Tortellini Sausage Soup- From 'Our Best Bites'

Tortellini Sausage Soup
Serves 6-8

3 links Italian Sausage
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minces
1 (14.5- ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 c. apple cider (DON"T leave this out!)
1/2 c. water
2 (15-ounce) cans chicken broth
1 cup sliced carrots
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
2 Tablespoons dried parsley
 2 medium zucchini, shredded
1 (8-10- ounce) package cheese tortellini
Parmesan cheese

1. Remove the casings from link sausage. Use a sharp knife to cut a slit down one side of the sausage and then peel back the casing. Crumble sausage into a large soup pot and begin cooking it over medium heat.
2. Add onion and garlic to the pot. Continue cooking until onion is translucent, the sausage is cooked, and your house smells like heaven. ;)
3. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, apple cider, water, chicken broth, carrots, oregano, and basil. Cover and simmer 1/2 hour. Add parsley and zucchini and simmer another 15 minutes or so. Add tortellini and cook until tender. Serve with bread and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Raspberry Poppyseed Salad

Here is the recipe for the salad that we served at Carolyn Stevenson's Baby Shower

1 bag baby spinach
1/4 red onion, sliced very thin and diced
1 small box fresh raspberries
1 cup candied walnuts
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Toss together. Drizzle with dressing right before serving. (The walnuts stay crunchier if you add them on top at the end)

Dressing:

1/8 cup Marie's Poppy seed dressing
1/8 cup Wishbone Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette

Mix together equal parts then pour over dressing.

Egg Roll Wrappers

Homemade egg roll wrappers are easy to make and often less dry than storebought wrappers.


Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hourIngredients:

•2 cups all-purpose flour
•1 large egg
•1 teaspoon salt
•1/2 cup ice water
•Cornstarch

Preparation:

Sift the flour into a large bowl.

Lightly beat the egg with the salt. Stir in 1/4 cup of water. Add the egg and the ice water to the flour. Stir in as much of the remaining 1/4 cup of water as needed to form a sticky batter.

Turn the dough out onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Cover the dough and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Knead the dough briefly, then cut in half. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface.Roll each half into a cylinder. Lightly score so that you have 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece out into a 3 1/2-inch square.

Stack the wrappers while you are preparing the remainder, covering with a damp cloth so that they don't dry out. If necessary, lightly dust the wrappers with flour or cornstarch to prevent them from sticking together. Use immediately, or refrigerate or freeze in a plastic bag until ready to use.

From this link

Cookie Monster Salad

1 Cup buttermilk (If you don't have buttermilk measure 1 cup milk + 2 tsp lemon juice, let set for 5 minutes)
1 sm. Pkg. intsant vanilla pudding
12 oz. Cool whip
2 cans mandarine oranges, drained
1 20oz. can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 pkg, fudge stripe cookies, crushed

Mix pudding and buttermilk, add cool whip. Add. Fruit. Add crushed cookies just before serving.

Parmesan Chicken

This Is Barefoot Contessa's Recipe:

Barefoot Contessa’s Parmesan Chicken

serves 6 (Although I would say it could easily do 8 chicken breasts if needed)

6 boneless skinless chicken Breasts

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt (I have if you don’t)

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper ( I use regular pepper)

2 extra large eggs

1 ¼ cups seasoned dry breadcrumbs

½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (I buy the pre grated parmesan in the bag, not the green container)

Unsalted butter (I use salted cuz it is what I keep on hand)

Olive oil

Pound the chicken breasts until they are ¼” think.  You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate.  On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 Tablespoon of water.  On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and ½ cup parmesan cheese.  Coat the chicken breast on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture.  Pressing lightly.

Heat 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 Tablespoon of Olive oil in a large sauté pan and cook 2 to 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until cooked through.  Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts.

NOTE: I typically make this with Boneless skinless chicken tenders and it will make 8-10.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

2 Cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/3 cup jam (any kind)

1. Preheat oven to 350* and spray mini-muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.
(Makes 24 mini muffins/12 regular size muffins)
2. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in small bowl.
3. In another bowl, whisk together peanut butter, egg, and melted butter.
4. Add dry ingredients and stir until flour disappears. Be sure not to stir too much!
5. Fill muffin tins half full with batter. Top each with 1/2 tsp. jam, then spoon the rest of the batter on top.
6. Bake for 20 mins or until lightly browned.
Enjoy!

Tara and Christina's Shower Menu

Here are the links to all the recipes that were served at the shower.  Hayley did a fabulous job in the planning and preparing of all the yummy goodness!


Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip with Pita Chips

Potato Bites



Veggie Bars

Apples and Toffee Dip

Edible Arrangement of Fruit (if you google it there are a ton of how to's The biggest helps was stuff your vase or bowl with a head of lettuce, start with the biggest fruit and move on to the fillers like grapes and strawberries.)

Razzleberry Pie-someone said putting in a teaspoon of Tapioca will make it thick if you like it less runny...

Oreo Truffles

Cherry Chip Cupcakes with Wilton Butter Cream Frosting

Monkey Bread  with no raisins or walnuts.  I am not sure this is the exact recipe but they are all pretty close to the same.

Walnut Blondie w/ Maple Butter

I believe this is a knock-off recipe of Applebees White Blondie.

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup flour sifted

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg beaten

1 TB vanilla

1/2 cup white choc. chips

1/3 cup butter, melted

Add soda, powder, and salt to flour. Sift again. Add nuts, mix well.

Add sugar to melted butter, add egg and vanilla, mix well. Add flour to mixture a little at a time until mixed well. Stir in choc. chips.

Spread dough over 9'' pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 min.

Maple Butter Sauce

3/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

In pan, add syrup and butter. Cook over low heat until butter is melted. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Add walnuts if desired.

Beef Ole

This recipe is one that my grandma makes, she clipped this recipe from a newspaper years ago.  IT is always a must have when I visit.  No one can make it like she does!

1lb Ground Beef

1 cup Water
1 pack Lawry’s Spaghetti Sauce mix
½ teaspoon Chili Powder
1 (8-oz) tomato sauce
Fritos Corn Chips
Tortilla Chips

Plus your favorit toppings.

Brown beef. Add seasonings, water, and sauce. Simmer uncovered 30 minutes until sauce thickens. Serve on a bed of Fritos and tortilla chips crumbled together. Top with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and grated cheese. Salsa, sour cream and olives are a must in our home as well.

Cream of Soup Substitute

You know when you find a recipe you don't want to loose..well this is my catch all recipe place.  A friend form church gave me this recipe and as soon as my canned soups are depleted I am going to try this.  She said it is great and the recipe says: "Here's a lowfat, low-cost recipe forcreamed condensed soup."  It is from a cookbook called "Set for life"

Slim Cream of Soup Mix

2 cups instant nonfat dried milk
1 cup cornstarch
3 TBSP low sodium chicken boullion granules
2 TBSP dried minced onion
1/2 tspn thyme leaves, cruched (optional)
¼ tsp pepper

Mix together and store in an airtight container

Slim Cream Soup
1/3 cup dry Slim Cream Soup Mix (see above)
1 ¼ cups water or skim milk

Combine soup mix and water or milk in small pan, bring to a boil and stir until thick. For a casserole or cream soup: combine soup mix and water or milk. Add to casserole or soup, it will thicken as it cooks.

Yield 1 ¼ cups Equals 1 10 ¾ ounce can condensed soup.

Variations:
Cream of Mushrrom Soup Add 1 4oz can mushrooms. Drained
Cream of Vegetable soup Add ½ cup diced cooked vegetables
Cream of Chicken soup Add ½ cup cooked diced chicken

Gooey Chocolate Brownies

I made brownies from scratch before and it was not worth the effort.  These however ARE!~  I made them in less than an hour, so it may take about 15 minutes longer to make these then those good ones from the box!
Let’s Cook: A book for kids who love to cook


Ingredients

6oz dark chocolate broken into pieces (I uses 1/2 bag bittersweet choc chips)
1 1/2 stick butter
1 1/4 cup sugar (I used white but the recipe says golden superfine sugar..is that supposed to be brown?)
pinch of salt
3 large eggs
1 scant cup all-purpose flour
2tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the cake pan, 8” square, and line it with nonstick baking parchment.

2. Place the chocolate and butter in a bowl. Melt over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth. Remove pan from the heat. Cool Slightly.

3. Add the sugar and sale to the melted chocolate. Beat the eggs in a bowl and add them gradually to the mixture.

4. Sift the flour into the mixture and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Scrape the mixture into the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is pale brown and the middle is soft. Remove from the pan.

6. Allow the brownies to cool in the pan before cutting into pieces. Remove from the pan and serve with ice cream to make a delicious dessert.

Chocolate Scotcheroos

Ingredients

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Place corn syrup and sugar into 3-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Mix well. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated. Press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over cereal mixture. Let stand until firm. Cut into 2 x 1-inch bars when cool.

Pesto Chicken Pizza

I guess with pizza, this is more of a topping suggestion or theory than an actual recipe. But it was delicious and I thought I should share. Sorry I didn't take pictures, it didn't last that long!
I put jarred pesto, fresh mozerella, fresh tomatoes and shredded chicken on top of my favorite (aka store bought) pizza crust. It was DELICIOUS (and green for St. Patty's Day)!!!! I might have skipped the chicken if my husband ate tomatoes... but the chicken was for him, and it actually made the pizza more filling, so that worked.
As a suggestion, if you like pesto at all, I would buy it at Costco, where it is about 1/4 the price as the regular grocery store, but you will have so much left over. Anyways, it was a good alternative to the regular pizza sauce, and was a little lighter than a standard pepperoni pizza.

Easy Cheese Ball

Ingredients:

2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
1 (1 oz) package of ranch dressing mix
2 cups finely shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup finely shredded sharp cheese
1lb bacon cooked and broken into small bits (I put the bacon in a large baggie and broke the pieces up with a rolling pin.)

Directions:
In a medium size bowl mash the cream cheese. Stir in the ranch dressing mix and the cheeses into the cream cheese. Shape the mixture into a ball. (It is a very large ball so I made 2 smaller balls). Cover the ball with the bacon bits. Refrigerate covered.

NOTES: The longer it refrigerates the better it tastes. Mine was in the fridge for 5 days before I served at the party. Also - I let the cheese ball sit out a few hours at room temperature before serving so it was nice and easy to cut.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

***This one will be making a regular appearance in our rotation! :) mmmm***

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

from yourhomebasedmom.com

6 Tbsp honey

5 Tbsp fresh lime juice (1-2 limes)

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

2-3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

8 – 10 flour tortillas (depending on size)

1 lb of a Mexican blend cheese (monterey jack, colby, cheddar), shredded

1 large can of green enchilada sauce

Mix the honey, lime juice, chili powder and garlic powder together with the shredded chicken. Allow it to sit for at least 1/2 hour or you could do it hours before and just cover and refrigerate.

Pour 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce into bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Place chicken and cheese into middle of a tortilla and spoon about 1 tablespoon of enchilada sauce over it and roll up. Place seam down in the pan. Reserve about 1-2 cups of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Pour enchilada sauce over the top of rolled enchiladas (reserve a little bit to add after they are baked) and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

I served with Cilantro Lime Rice (like Chipotle's) that yourhomebasedmom.com suggested. Yum.

Fudge Cookie Bars

This recipe is from my second mom Nyla.

"Cookie" mixture:

1 c shortening

2 c brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 c quick oats

Chocolate mixture:

1 pkg chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 Tbsp butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Grease large cookie sheet.

Reserve 2 cups oatmeal mixture and press rest into bottom of cookie sheet.

Melt chocolate chips, and then combine with butter, salt, vanilla, and sweetened condensed milk. Pour over crust. Sprinkle/lay reserved oatmeal mixture on top of chocolate. Bake for 15 minutes at 350*.

Lemon Cheese Bars

1 pkg yellow cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 c vegetable oil

8 oz cream cheese

1/3 c sugar

1 tsp lemon extract

In a bowl, combine mix, one egg, and oil until crumbly. Sit aside 1 cup for topping. Press crumb mixture into greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350* for 15 minutes.

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, one egg, and extract. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Refrigerate leftovers.

Delicious Apple Pie

This is from Rosa Young. We made these for YW on Tuesday night. For each recipe we made 4 mini pies. And each girl got to take home 2 mini pies. We made a total of 24 mini pies in about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 425*

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 3/4 + 1/8 C. Flour
1/4 + 1/8 tsp. Salt
3/4 C. Shortening
5 Tbsp. Water

Combine Flour, Salt, Shortening and Water. Toss mixture with fork to moisten. Create a ball. (Can use your hands to mix it better.) Wrap ball in plastic. Chill for 15 mins. in refrigerator before rolling.

Filling:
4 big apples (use your favorite) Core, Skin and Cut apples into bite size pieces
1/2 C. Butter
3 Tbsp. Flour
1/4 C. Water
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 C. Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1 Tbsp. Vanilla

Melt Butter in a saucepan, add flour to create a paste. Stir well. Add water, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Stir. Add apples. Let simmer.
Roll out dough. Grease a 9" pie plate. Place dough in pie plate. Leave some dough to make a lattice for the top. Pour filling into pie plate. Roll out remaining dough and cut into thin strips and place on top of the pie (to make a lattice design).

Bake for 15 mins. at 425* and then for 35 minutes at 350* until apples are soft.
For golden crust, beat an egg and brush the egg on the crust.

Strawberry Pie Bars

Adapted from http://www.recipegirl.com/

CRUST:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoon brown sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

FILLING: the recipe came from this webpage

2 cups fresh strawberries, mashed

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup sugar

2 cups strawberries, cut in to pieces

TOPPING:

3 cups quick-cooking oats

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled*

1. Prepare the crust: Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a 15-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment paper. With an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. At low speed, beat in the flour, spices and salt until a soft dough forms. Press the dough over the bottom of the prepared pan and 1/2 inch up the side in an even layer. Bake in the center of the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden and set. Let cool on a rack.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: In a saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Add mashed strawberries and cook slowly for about 10 minutes until thickened. Let cool.

3. Prepare the topping: In a large bowl, mix the oats with the flour, light brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Using fingers (wash your hands and take off your rings first!), squeeze the butter into the oats & sugar and crumble together until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Press the mixture into clumps.

4. Assemble the bars: Spread the strawberry filling over the crust. Scatter the crumbs on top, pressing them lightly into an even layer. Bake in the center of the oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the topping is golden; rotate the pan halfway through baking, and keep an eye on it to make sure the top isn’t getting too browned. Let cool completely on a rack before cutting into 2-inch bars.

*It is important the butter is chilled otherwise the butter makes more of a paste than crumbs.

Makes 4 dozen bars

Autumn Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies taste and smell just like Autumn!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2-3/4 cups quick-cooking oats
1-1/2 cups chocolate-covered raisins (we tried it once with just chocolate chips and that was good too)

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in oats and raisins.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Flatten slightly.

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 3 minutes before removing to wire racks.

Yield: 3 dozen. (I used my pampered chef scoop and it made more than three dozen.)

altered slightly from "Simple & Delicious" magazine